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New hope in electronics

for the unemployed by PAUL GRAD

There’s an electronics workshop in Sydney’s inner suburb of Surry Hills which looks pretty much like any other, but is quite special. The young people who work there are specially enthusiastic, because only a while ago they were unemployed and facing a bleak futurę. The workshop is part of a training program to help people find a job with industry, and most of the people who joined the program have sińce found a job.

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Sydney ITeC’s manager Steve Lawrence (lełt) discusses a problem with lecturer Tom Gunthorpe in the electronics workshop.

The workshop is part of the Sydney Information Technology Centre (ITeC), the first of three so far established in Australia, the other two being in Melbourne and Perth.

The Centres provide training for the long-term unemployed and for people who are disadvantaged in the labour market. They plan to include business people and members of the generał public in the ncar futurę.

They are sponsoted partly by the Federal Department of Industrial Rela-tions and partly by private industry.

Soon thev will raise some of their own

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income through commercial training and ITeC-owned business ventures.

Sydney’s ITeC has been set up by Peninsula Community Services Ltd (PCS), a non-profit employment devel-opment agency. It is supported by sev-cral businesses, including Computer manufacturers, electronics and high-tcch companies.

It organiscd an open day on July 7, during which representatives of some of the supporting businesses visitcd the centre.

Showing great interest in the training program, representatives of some of the Computer and electronics companies which support the centre said that it is difficult for the companies to find per-sonncl with the skills and experience they need.

They need people willing and able to start at the grassroots lcvel, to become quickly able to actually “do” something. They said graduates from tertiary insti-tutions usually want to start already at a fairly advanced position within the company, but many of them know only how to study.

At the centre the students, who are paid an allowance during their coursc, can work at their own pace and find out which is the kind of work they like best and for which they are best suited.

The centres provide a “hands on” cx-perience in a work environment, and not in a classroom. It combincs practicc with theory and uses real work projeets.

The Sydney centre’s manager, Steve Lawrence, said “We want our students to be able to opciate cffcctively from the very start in a new job, and not be

in any doubts about their abilities.”

Sydney’s ITeC provides two major training programs: Computer and office skills, and electronics. The courscs rangę from 12 to 20 wecks full-time.

The Computer and office skills course introduces students to computers and most aspeets of Computer applications including word processing, databases, spreadsheets, printing, basie electronics and programming.

Computers used in the centre have been donated by IBM, NCR, Epson, Apple and Olivetti.

The electronics course covers both theory and practical work including sol-dering, component identification, fault fmding and basie computing.

Students at the Centre have built various types of equipment including counter programmable eloeks, light chasers, car and house alarms, and a solid-state switchbox to switch eight computers to two printers.

The centre at Sydney has been oper-ating sińce Scptcmber 1986 and thosc in Melbourne and Perth, sińce the begin-ning of this year.

Sydney’s centre has eight students. 12 of the initial 20 students havc found a job. The centres at Melbourne and Perth each have 10 students.

Melbourne^ centre, managed by Mikę Auden, was set up by the non-profit agencies Melbourne Citymission and Westernport Regional Development Committcc.

The ITeC centre at Perth, managed by Phil Schwenke, was set up by Angli-care (Anglican Health and Welfare Ser-vice), a non-profit employment develop-ment agency.

The initiative to establish the centres came from Federal Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations Ralph Willis. Last Scptember he released a report from the National Training Council on a scheme called ITeC (Information Technology Centres), subscqucntly announcing the governmcnt^łs intention to establish three pilot ITeCs during 1986/1987.

The centres are modelled after training institutions which have been operat-ing in Britain sińce 1981. Each year about 5000 young Britons receive training in information technology applications in 175 of those institutions. (J)

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ELECTRONICS Australia, September 1987